


Summer Lovin'

by FrazzledSquidz



Series: We'll Keep Together and Make it Better [9]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Cuddling, Dirty Talk, Drabble, Established Relationship, F/M, Introspection, M/M, Multi, Self-Esteem Issues, Short & Sweet, and kind of sad, language warning, steve is my angst baby, they fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-23 15:02:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8332243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrazzledSquidz/pseuds/FrazzledSquidz
Summary: These lovely losers spend the summer together. (See each chapter title for their respective rating. Tags will be added along with chapters.)





	1. Steve (rated G)

Even though he generally tried really hard not to, sometimes Steve found himself thinking about the future and what it might hold for him. He didn’t have any particular goals or ideals or dreams, nothing he was dying to do. But today, hanging out in his parents’ pool with Jonathan and Nancy, just enjoying cheap beer and the hot sun, he couldn’t help but consider what he might want out of life. 

If he was being honest, what he wanted was… this. Spending a day with his favorite people, not stressed out about anything, just feeling warm and excited about where the day could take them. 

It was pretty pathetic, he knew. He also knew it wasn’t sustainable. Eventually his dad would kick him out, and Jonathan and Nancy would go to college, and their time together would slowly come to an end. It wasn’t like they could continue like this forever. It was fun but it wasn’t… _normal._

Steve ducked his head underwater, trying to wash way his dark thoughts. It figured that the one thing that made him passionate and happy and excited was also the one thing he couldn’t keep. Just his luck. 

He surfaced with a small gasp, pushing his thick hair out of his face and swimming over to Jonathan. The other boy had his arms thrown over the side of the pool, his head resting on his overlapping hands. His shoulders were already getting pink, his freckles standing out boldly. Steve came up and pressed cool lips to his warm shoulder, making Jonathan open his eyes and smile at him lazily. Turned out heat turned Byers into a big housecat. 

“You’re gonna burn.”

Jonathan shrugged mildly. “S’okay.”

Nancy came out from the back, wrapped in a towel and carrying fresh beers. “Here you go,” she announced, setting them down in front of Jonathan and Steve. 

“Thanks, babe.” Steve cracked his open immediately and took a long drink. God was there anything better than a cold beer on a hot day? _Yes,_ his mind replied pointedly as Nancy took off her towel, showing off her polka dot one-piece. It had a red bow right at her cleavage that was slowly driving him crazy. 

Sighing, Steve pulled himself up to the edge, sitting on it with his feet still in the water. He looped an arm around Nancy’s calves, pressing a kiss to her thigh. Beside him, Jonathan opened his eyes as the water from Steve’s trunks reached his arms. Nancy smiled down at him, taking a drink from her own beer. _I love this,_ he found himself thinking with a burning intensity. _How can I make it last?_

Nancy’s eyes focused on just beyond Steve’s shoulder. “You’re going to burn, Jonathan.”

“I told him that already.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jonathan muttered, picking his head up and grabbing his beer. “The sun feels good.”

“Yeah, until it fries your skin off,” Steve pointed out.

Jonathan cast him a cursory glance. “Your face is the one that’s all red.”

He waved it off. “I happen to tan, unlike you guys.”

“I turn into a big freckle,” Nancy mused, freeing her legs from Steve’s grip to join him at the edge of the pool. “Mike burns instantly, he’s so pale.”

“Because he lives in your basement,” Steve snorted. “And Jonathan burns because he lives in that darkroom.”

“I like that darkroom.”

“We couldn’t tell.”

Nancy’s free hand found Steve’s knee, holding it loosely as she took a sip of her beer. They fell into a comfortable silence, just listening to the gentle waves of the pool and the insects singing from the forest. Steve slipped his hand under Nancy’s and threaded their fingers together loosely.

“I wish it could always be like this,” she murmured quietly.

Longing thundered through Steve so hard his heart constricted tightly, making him suddenly short of breath. God he _wanted_ so damn bad. “So stay,” he found himself saying, looking over at Nancy. It came out like the desperate plea it was; a wish for joyful stagnation.

She met his eyes. “Oh Steve…” Her hand tightened in his, sorrow drawing her features back. 

“Yeah, I know.” He brushed it off, breaking their gaze and feeling like he might cry, which would just be fucking great. He glanced down at Jonathan, who was staring off into the middle-distance, also looking quiet and sad. Steve drained the last of his beer. “Well, let’s make it count while it lasts!” He looped his arms around Nancy and pulled her into the pool with him, her shrieks of protest greeting his ears before they were submerged. 

He didn’t know how to handle this, how to hold on to something he desperately wanted to keep in his life. Had he ever lost anything before? Anything that mattered _this much?_ How did people live through this? 

Steve and Nancy pulled Jonathan into the water to join them as they splashed and dunked each other, pushing and pulling away with touches that lingered. Nancy’s abandoned beer can floated by them merrily, and Steve found himself desperately trying to drown his sorrow in the clear water, the warm sun, the sight of the two people he loved most laughing and soaked and so beautifully happy. 

If he couldn’t keep them forever, he was just going to have to enjoy every moment they had together. It was all he knew how to do.


	2. Jonathan (rated E)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I may have lost my way_  
>  _But I still know what it means to be_  
>  _Loved by you, by you._  
>  -Waiting for You by Grizfolk

Jonathan twitched as a knock came through the door, panicking briefly. He’d gotten permission from Mrs. Simms to use the darkroom over the summer break, since he didn’t have any of the necessary equipment or space at home. (He’d even been given a key to the school after he’d signed a contract promising not to vandalize the building.) Needless to say, he wasn’t expecting anyone. 

Despite that, seeing Steve push his way into the room with a grin somehow wasn’t a surprise. “How’s it going, Byers?”

“Fine. They let you loose already?” Steve had gotten a job working part-time at the supermarket, but the hours were extremely varied. Sometimes he was stationed at the cash register for the day, where he got to flirt and charm all the old ladies, and sometimes he was stocking early mornings. 

Jonathan would never say this to his face, but he found Steve to be adorable in his starchy blue uniform shirt with the large collar. Steve hated it and usually wore a white tank top underneath the shirt so he could get rid of it as soon as he was done with work. With his biker boots, dark pants, white tank, a cigarette behind his ear, and his sunglasses pushed up into his hair he looked very dashing. All he needed was a motorcycle. 

Something in Jonathan’s chest throbbed at the thought and he was glad his blush wouldn’t show in the red light. 

“Already?” Steve scoffed. “Dude, you know it’s like 2 o’clock, right?”

Jonathan blinked. He had been in the darkroom for hours. The timer went off behind him and he turned to move a photograph from one chemical bath to another. “Guess I lost track of time. Where’s Nancy?”

“Still at that Super Smart Kids Day Camp.” That wasn’t what it was called, but that’s essentially what it was. Jonathan knew it had something to do with college prep, but every time Nancy started talking about it, for some reason, it went in one ear and out the other. 

Honestly, Jonathan was trying really hard not to think about his upcoming Senior year and, more importantly, what would happen afterwards. Steve had graduated this year and didn’t really have any immediate college plans (much to his father’s disgust), but he knew Nancy wanted to go to Harvard as soon as possible, though she was still trying to figure out the early admissions process. Jonathan… he wanted to go to NYU so bad he could taste it. But how could he leave his mom and Will alone? Especially with Will now in high school? And how could he afford to live in New York City and go to school? And once he got his degree in photography, then what? What kind of sustainable job could he have in that field? 

He blew out a slow, quiet breath and tried to push the nagging thoughts away. They filled him with so much anxiety he felt sick. 

Steve came up behind him, looping his arms around his waist and resting his chin on Jonathan’s shoulder. Jonathan tensed and stilled for a moment before carrying on, still getting used to such casual contact. Even offhand touches with Steve and Nancy instantly made him hard, though. It was so embarrassing; he desperately hoped Steve wouldn’t notice. 

“Those are nice,” Steve murmured, pressing his chest along Jonathan’s back. 

“You’re biased.” All the ones he was currently developing were of Steve and/or Nancy. They were usually his subjects, these days.

Steve nipped at his shoulder through his t-shirt. “Learn to take a compliment, Byers.” His broad hands started slowly petting his stomach and chest. 

Jonathan struggled to keep his breathing even, feeling a little lightheaded. Between their three conflicting schedules they hadn’t had a lot of time to hang out or… do anything else recently. He fished a picture from the rinse. “I have to hang this up,” he murmured, wondering if his voice sounded like it was shaking as much as he thought it was. He felt like a loser, but Steve just ramped his entire body up in the best and worst ways. 

“So hang it up,” Steve whispered in his ear, one hand pulling Jonathan’s shirt from his jeans and slipping underneath it to rub smooth fingers along his belly. 

Breath hitching, Jonathan licked his lips and leaned forward to attach the picture to the line, incidentally pushing his ass against Steve’s crotch as he did so. He was surprised to feel how hard Steve was through his pants. 

Steve started gently biting and kissing Jonathan’s neck, bringing his hands up to rub at his nipples under his shirt with calloused palms. Jonathan gasped as Steve ground his dick against Jonathan’s ass, dropping his hands to brace himself against the table his developing supplies was on. 

“S-Steve,” he started to protest, but was interrupted by his own moan as Steve roughly bit his neck and twisted his nipples at the same time, his hips bucking up into nothing. 

Steve hummed, soothing the bite with his hot tongue. “What, babe?”

Jonathan hated when Steve called him pet names. (Except he really didn’t.) “We’re in our school, Steve.”

“Our _empty_ school,” he countered easily. “Listen, tell me to stop and I will, I promise. But,” he groaned, bringing his right hand down to cup Jonathan through his jeans, making him gasp again. “I am horny as hell and have been hard since I got into my car to come and see you and I’m dying to fuck you again. Or, shit, give you a blowjob or handjob or anything, I swear. I just want you so bad right now, Jonathan.”

Jonathan shuddered, mouth dry. He knew, obviously, that Steve liked him and liked to be with him. But there was always some small part of him that wondered if he was just convenient, a queer kid who liked Steve’s girlfriend and was easy to access. He hated thinking like that, but he couldn’t stop the betraying whispers at the back of his mind, especially since Nancy and Steve were leagues above him in every conceivable way. Times like this he started to think that maybe Steve liked Jonathan as much as he liked Steve. It was dizzying to consider. 

“God,” he gasped, pushing into Steve’s hand. “Okay, yes. Yes. But not here.” He had meant not at that specific table by all the developing chemicals, but Steve apparently heard something different, as he grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room. 

It felt so deliciously dangerous, somehow; walking around the school hallways holding hands with a boy (Steve Harrington, no less), their erections pushing at the front of their pants. There was no one else here, but somehow it still seemed so… daring, so deviant. 

Steve pushed open the door to the first bathroom they saw, then moved them into a stall. He locked it deftly, shoved Jonathan against the hideous vinyl wall, and went back to kissing and grinding against him, smiling like it was Christmas. 

Jonathan sighed in happiness and pleasure, cupping Steve’s face and trying to give as good as he got, pushing their hips together frantically. Steve grabbed his ass and squeezed it almost to the point of pain, but Jonathan loved it. He loved both Nancy’s gentle control and Steve’s rough dominance in equal measures, and tried not to think of how that could be. 

Steve broke their kiss to whisper in Jonathan’s ear, “Supplies are in my front right pocket.” He moved his hands around and unbuttoned Jonathan’s jeans, biting the shell of his ear at the same time. 

Panting and shaking, Jonathan slipped a hand into Steve’s pocket and pulled out a condom and small tube of lube, unable to stop the small smile that tugged at his lips. “You’re well-prepared.”

Steve laughed shortly, shoving Jonathan’s jeans and boxers down and taking the lube from his hand. “I know how to plan my trysts, Byers. Turn around.”

Jonathan heard him pull open his dark pants as he did so, bracing his hands, one of which still held the condom, against the orange stall wall. He heard the tube snap open and then there were cool, wet fingers pushing against his entrance, making him gasp in anticipation. He spread his legs as wide as he could with his pants around his ankles, angling his ass up for easier access. 

“You’re so gorgeous like this,” Steve murmured in his ear, pressing against his back and he slid one finger in deftly. Jonathan sighed at the intrusion, closing his eyes as Steve started to pump it in and out. They hadn’t done this since that night Steve had ridiculously attempted to give him five orgasms; it had been a few weeks. 

“I know you don’t see it,” Steve continued, pressing biting kisses along the back of Jonathan’s shoulders. He rubbed some more lube over his hole, then worked a second finger in, gently twisting and scissoring them. Jonathan panted and moaned quietly, grinding his forehead against the back of one of his hands. “But, really. I can’t imagine doing this with anyone but you. No other guy would ever compare, you know?”

Jonathan shuddered, keeping his eyes tightly closed. “You- you’re exaggerating. You- _ah!_ ” He pounded his free hand against the wall as Steve hit his prostate and mercilessly started rubbing it. “O-oo _hhhh_ ,” he groaned wantonly, shoving his hips back into Steve’s fingers. 

“I’m really not,” Steve said quietly against his ear, possessiveness lacing his voice. “What other guy makes those kinds of sounds, or looks at me the way you do, like you’re both terrified of me and you love me?” Jonathan shuddered, moaning brokenly, wondering if he was that transparent or if Steve was just riling him up. “Sometimes it’s so hard to act normal around you. I just want to pin you down and make you scream- all the time. I want to show everyone how beautiful you are when you come, but also I don’t want them to see you like this.” 

Steve added a third finger and Jonathan flipped his hand around against the wall so he could cup his fingers around his eyes, as if trying to hide from the force of his pleasure. Unwittingly he imagined Steve fucking him on one of the tables in the cafeteria, on his hands and knees, in front of everyone. He groaned as desire punched through his chest, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. 

“This,” Steve stated, slipping his fingers from Jonathan and swatting him across his ass, making him jump and gasp. “This is mine. And Nancy’s. Just ours. But sometimes I want to show people. Put a mark on you so no one else in this godforsaken town tries to touch you.” Steve found the condom in Jonathan’s other hand, and he uncurled his fingers to offer it to him. 

He tried to catch his breath as Steve rolled the condom on over himself, feeling so turned on he thought he might pass out. Steve’s hands were on his shoulders, then under his elbows, pushing his hands up. Jonathan followed his lead, gripping the top of the stall and stretching his body out. One of Steve’s hands pinned Jonathan’s thin wrists to the wall while the other grabbed his hip, pulling his ass back and out. 

“What do you think?” Steve asked, sounding remarkably calm considering he was in the process of putting his dick inside of Jonathan. His breath hitched as the head breached him. “Should we mark you up before sending you to school in the Fall? A hickey on your neck, some come on your shirt… Show everyone just how lovely and desired you are?”

“St- _Steve,_ ” Jonathan moaned, both because the other boy was now balls-deep inside of him and because of the filth coming from his mouth. 

“I don’t mean to be possessive,” Steve mused, mouthing at the side of Jonathan’s neck. “I just want to keep you for myself, you and Nancy. I’m selfish like that.” He drew back and snapped his hips forward, making Jonathan gasp loudly in surprise and pleasure. Steve’s hands, one around his wrists and one grabbing his hip, tightened as he set a brutal pace, slamming into Jonathan’s prostate on almost every thrust. 

Jonathan cried out, his desperate moans reverberating through the bathroom. Steve was practically chewing on the side of his neck and he knew he’d have a huge hickey there but he just couldn’t bring himself to care at that moment. Because… a part of him wanted what Steve was talking about; some mark of claim, of ownership to show people that he belonged to Steve and Nancy. That he wasn’t just the awkward third wheel to their relationship, but somehow actually a part of it. That he was desired by such beautiful creatures, even though it defied all logic and reason. 

Jonathan felt like his gasps were being punched out of him every time Steve thrust inside. It felt _so good_ , but he couldn’t come like this. He whined and twisted his wrists under Steve’s tight grip, wanting so badly to finish himself off. 

“Uh uh, babe.” He could hear Steve’s smirk in his voice despite the breathless quality of it. “You in a hurry? Are you worried that someone else will find their way in here? I didn’t lock the bathroom door. Anyone could walk in and hear you getting _fucked_.”

A shuddering gasp escaped Jonathan at the thought and he felt even more blood rush to his face, making his ears ring. He tried to bring his hips forward to hump the wall, but Steve’s grip on him was too tight.

“They’d be jealous,” Steve confided in a whisper, biting his ear again and continuing to pound into him, over and over. The hand not holding onto Jonathan’s wrists moved from his hip to slip under his shirt, running over his nipples and collarbone with just the slightest hint of his blunt nails. “They’d be jealous of you, getting fucked by me. But they’d really be jealous of me, the only one who gets to see this gorgeous side of you other than Nancy.”

Jonathan tried to groan in disagreement, but he was too busy drowning in pleasure and the desperate need to come to muster up much of an argument. 

Steve hummed, thrusts growing erratic and nails digging into Jonathan’s skin harder. “Nance- Nancy is gonna be jealous. When she learns I hogged you like this. You know she loves to watch us, you know how hot it makes her. Can you picture if she was here now? I bet she’d be on the counter, frantically rubbing herself and waiting for one of us to get off so we could fuck her next, give her a turn. Can you imagine how she would sound right now? How high her voice would get as she got closer and closer to coming?”

“St-” Jonathan choked on his name, shoving his ass back into Steve and moaning desperately. He tightened around the penetration, his body so _unbearably_ close to orgasm it hurt. 

Steve shouted behind him, buried his nails in Jonathan’s chest, tightened his other hand around his wrists, and sank his teeth into that delicious spot where his neck met his shoulder as he came, convulsing inside of Jonathan. 

Jonathan cried out at the lovely pain and because he was _so damn close_ he felt like his head was going to explode. 

Suddenly, Steve was pulling out of him and releasing his hands, his arms tingling as the blood rushed back into them. He felt his ass spasm around the loss, but before he could process anything else Steve had spun him around, sank to his knees, and swallowed Jonathan down expertly. 

Jonathan cried out and grabbed two fistfuls of Steve’s hair, harder than he meant to. In no time at all he was coming explosively down Steve’s throat, his orgasm hitting him like a tidal wave. 

Steve sat back, looking smug as he wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. Jonathan, panting, sank down to sit on the floor, leaning back against the wall bonelessly. “You’re crazy, Steve Harrington,” he stated blearily, feeling like his whole body was buzzing. 

The other boy beamed like Jonathan had just paid him a high compliment. He stood, peeling the condom off his dick to discard in the toilet and shimmying his pants back up. He held out a hand for Jonathan. “C’mon Byers. Let’s get you cleaned up.” 

Jonathan stood by the bathroom counter, watching Steve wet some paper towels with warm water and feeling lazy and affectionate. When Steve turned to him, Jonathan looped his arms over his shoulders in a loose hug. Steve chuckled softly, placed one hand on the small of his back, and used the other to gently wipe him clean. Jonathan gasped a little and shuddered as the rough material caught his sore hole, and Steve kissed his cheek in an apology. After he’d pulled Jonathan’s pants up for him, he kissed him again, soft and sweet, cradling the back of his head like he was something precious. 

Jonathan wished he could always feel like this; calm and peaceful and secure in his unorthodox relationship.

\--

Later, as Jonathan shyly yet proudly examined the slight bruises around his wrists, the bites along his neck and shoulders, and felt the pleasant soreness in his ass, he thought he could try harder. Not that he could manage his own anxiety very well, but he could trust Steve and Nancy more. Trust that they did know who he was and that they chose him anyway, day after day, the same way he chose them. He thought that it didn’t have to necessarily make sense, as long as it made him happy.


	3. Nancy (rated G)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Watch the sky change to a darkened blue_  
>  _I can't think of another thing to do_  
>  _And every song just makes me think of you_  
>  _Because the singer sounds as if she was longing,_  
>  _As if she was longing, too._  
>  -Little Numbers by BOY

Nancy sighed, rubbing her hand absently across Jonathan’s chest with her head on his shoulder. He had his arm wrapped around her back and their legs were gently tangled together, their knees pressed against each other through their pants. 

“Cold?” Jonathan asked quietly.

“No, I’m okay.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, getting a faint whiff of his deodorant. Nancy found that she loved the way his skin smelled in the summer, like sunlight and earth. Sometimes a little like cigarette smoke, from Joyce or Steve. They’d been out by the lake for awhile now, so he also smelled faintly like water and smoke from their little campfire. She couldn’t get enough of it. “You smell good,” she told him, because it was true.

His chest flexed under her hand as he snorted. “I doubt it. I worked today.”

She moved her arm to wrap around his waist, hugging him closer to her. There was just something about Jonathan Byers that made her feel so protective. “I like it. How was work, anyway?”

“Fine. Boring.” Jonathan started slowly rubbing his large palm up and down her back. “How was your class?”

It was less of a class and more of a gathering of people desperate to get out of Hawkins. Nancy was working with a few other students and teachers to do things like practice college essays, monitor acceptance rates, and consider second or third options. They also targeted their weaker areas, the subjects they didn’t excel at, in order to practice them and make themselves better candidates. It was competitive, but fun. Nancy loved it, but she also felt guilty for loving it. She wasn’t trying to get away from Steve and Jonathan any sooner than she had to, but she did have to get out of this town. If only she could pack them up and take them with her.

“It was fine,” she replied. “You know Hunter Beckett is in it?”

“Really?” Jonathan asked hesitantly.

“I know; he’s a grade-A moron. I don’t how he thinks he’s going to get into an Ivy League school. I was helping him with Algebra today. _Algebra._ ”

Jonathan chuckled. “Not all of us can be in Calc 2.”

She poked him in the ribs, making him jump. “You’re going to be in that class, too. Just you wait.” Their schedules had been mailed out to them, but in a reverse-alphabetical order by last name. Nancy had no idea why they couldn’t just send them out en masse. 

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t pass Calc 1 last year…” He mused. “I was pretty distracted.”

First by a monster and then by Nancy and Steve. Oh well; she had no regrets. “Speaking of Steve, when is he getting off work?”

“The grocery store closes at ten. How much longer could they keep him?” 

Nancy shifted, glancing up at the stars. They looked so clear here, away from the town. Maybe Hopper had the right idea living out here. “Do you think aliens exist?”

“Definitely. If faceless monsters exist, aliens have to.”

She laughed a little, pressing her face into his chest and inhaling deeply. She really did love the way he smelled. 

They heard a car coming up to the lake from behind them. Nancy felt Jonathan tense under her before the brights flashed twice; their signal that it was just one of them and they were safe. She pressed a kiss to his chest before sitting up on her knees, pushing her hair back over her shoulders. 

“Fancy seeing you guys out here,” Steve called, swinging out of his car.

“You’re late!” she yelled back, placing a palm on Jonathan’s stomach and rubbing absently. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him, but he wasn’t complaining. Steve was all cut, hard lines, but Jonathan was soft and easy; everything from his body to his eyes to his mannerisms. She loved the contrast. 

“Well my boss is a dick,” Steve sighed, shrugging expansively as he walked over. “What were you guys talking about?” He sat down cross-legged on the other side of Jonathan, bending over to kiss him briefly. 

“Aliens,” Jonathan stated wryly as Nancy got her kiss from Steve. 

He blinked down at Jonathan. “Really? Monsters aren’t enough, we gotta have aliens hanging around here, too?” 

“Well they’re not here,” Nancy pointed out.

“Yet.”

“And they might be friendly. You never know.”

“Let’s not risk it,” Steve decided, pulling the cigarette from behind his ear and lighting up. He’d been smoking more since he’d started working. He blew his smoke away from them absently, touching the backs of his fingers to Jonathan’s side and making him squirm a little. “You work today, Byers?”

“Yeah, just a half day.” Nancy could tell he was starting to feel awkward, being the only one laying down, so she stretched out beside him again, looking up at Steve. She stretched an arm over his stomach, touching Steve’s hand as Jonathan relaxed. “He hired some summer help, which means I’m not getting a lot of hours. I’m thinking about getting a second job.”

“But then we’ll see you even less,” Nancy pouted, then immediately regretted it. She didn’t have a job, didn’t need one. Her parents were happy enough she was spending her summer preparing for college and never got on her case about making her own money. The same could not be said for Steve or Jonathan. 

“Come work at the grocery store,” Steve offered easily, squeezing Nancy’s fingers gently. “Then at least we can hang out. I can put in a good word for you.”

“Thanks.” The smile was obvious in Jonathan’s voice, and Nancy relaxed. The last thing she wanted was for this lovely night to dissolve into an argument. 

Steve extinguished his cigarette in the grass beside their blanket, stretching out on the other side of Jonathan. Nancy glanced up as Steve buried his face in Jonathan’s neck, inhaling deeply. “You always smell so good, Byers."

She laughed as she felt Jonathan twitch underneath her in surprise. “What?”

“What?” Steve asked. 

“I just told him earlier how good he smelled,” Nancy offered, grinning. 

“Ohh,” Steve drawled, returning his face happily to Jonathan’s neck. “Well it’s true.”

“I don’t even wear cologne or anything,” Jonathan protested, sounding a little exasperated.

“I think that’s part of it,” Steve agreed. “You just smell like… you.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Jonathan muttered. “And stop licking me.”

“No,” came Steve’s voice, sounding muffled. 

“Maybe you’re an alien, Steve,” Nancy mused. “Or at least a cannibal. You’re always chewing on us.”

“Because it’s fun.” He said simply, resting his cheek on Jonathan’s bicep, as his arm was folded behind his head. “And you both love it.”

“True,” Nancy agreed easily. 

“Maybe he’s a vampire,” Jonathan whispered, as if suddenly coming across the idea.

“Uh oh, Steve. We’re going to have to drive a stake through your heart.”

Steve snorted. “Too late; you already did that.” 

His tone was light-hearted and Nancy knew, she _knew_ , he didn’t mean it like that, but guilt shot through her anyway. Because she would be the one to break them up, she was the one who was leaving early. She was the one ruining the most beautiful thing they had. Even though she had known they wouldn’t last, the reality rearing ahead of them was still terrifying and sad and lonely. 

Steve’s hand found hers over Jonathan’s chest, squeezing it gently as if to say, _I’m sorry, you know I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t worry about it._

At their feet, the fire merrily popped and crackled. Jonathan was a pro at building them and Nancy couldn’t help but wonder if his dad at taught him. Apparently he’d been into hunting and camping and had dragged Jonathan along, willing or not. Though it obviously had not left a favorable lasting impression on him, he did possess a lot of useful skills now. They might not prove useful in New York City, however. 

_I wonder if he’s going,_ Nancy found herself thinking. She knew he wanted to, but he’d said surprisingly little about it. Sometimes Jonathan would start to talk about specific photos he wanted in his portfolio, but then he would change the subject, like he hadn’t meant to start talking about it in the first place. She wanted to know, but she was afraid to ask. They were tiptoeing around the future like it was an elaborate dance, like if they didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t happen. They would never separate. 

“The fire’s gonna need more wood soon,” Jonathan offered quietly. Steve hummed in agreement, but no one spoke further, or attempted to move. 

Eventually the fire dimmed to coals, and they still didn’t budge. Nancy felt like they were in a glass bubble, where the slightest motion or noise would shatter it so they could never return. An intense sorrow was raging inside of her, feeling much like the grief she had fought through after she’d lost Barb. (After Barb had been taken from her.) 

Nancy didn’t want to lose them. She couldn’t. But she would. And it might very well be entirely her fault. 

“I love you,” she whispered, because it was true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys I gave myself a bad case of the feels with this one T-T


	4. Jonathan (rated M for language)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _What am I supposed to do,_  
>  _If I can’t have you?_  
>  by Parade of Lights

Even though Steve’s house was a short drive away, Jonathan had decided to walk and take a shortcut through the woods, hoping it would give him time to think of what he was actually going to say. 

It had a been a few days since they’d seen each other. The last time was out by the lake, when Nancy had told them that she loved them. Steve had gotten up, ignoring their attempts to call him back, and had driven off without a word. Jonathan might have chased after him, but Nancy was distraught and in tears and he could never have left her like that, no matter what the situation was. 

Jonathan had stopped by Steve’s house every day after that, trying to catch him at home, but he was always at work. Finally he got the brilliant idea to call the grocery store to see when Steve had the day off, and it had just so happened to be today. 

He felt nervous. Not of Steve or what he might face, but what was going to happen after this. What if this was the end of them already? Jonathan thought they would at least through his senior year, but now he wasn’t so sure. And would Jonathan be forced to choose friendships between Steve and Nancy if they couldn’t get their act together? He didn’t think he could do that; he cared about them both equally. He’d actually already told Nancy that he loved her back, that night by the lake. 

Jonathan sighed, trying to distract himself by looking around at the trees. He hadn’t been able to go into the forest for a few months after That Whole Monster Thing, but now he felt safe in its depths again. The forest had always been a place of refuge for both him and Will, somewhere to go when home was too unbearable. Even though Jonathan hated his dad, he was reluctantly glad that he’d taught him the skills he needed to navigate the forest effectively and use what it had to offer. 

He stepped out of the woods and into Steve’s backyard, finding the other boy lounging on a deck chair and smoking. He’d been smoking a lot more recently, Jonathan noticed. Steve glanced up as he approached, though his dark sunglasses hid his expression. 

“Hey Byers,” he called lazily, taking a long drag from his cigarette. “What brings you to my lovely abode this fine afternoon?”

Jonathan shrugged, rounding the pool and slumping in the chair next to Steve’s. “I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“So what?” Steve sighed, exhaling cigarette smoke and not looking over at him. “You need a good fuck?”

Jonathan frowned over at him. “Steve, stop. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, man. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you’re acting like an asshole.”

Steve shrugged. “I am an asshole. Thought you knew that by now, Byers.”

“You’re a lot of things, but an asshole isn’t one of them.”

“Man,” Steve sighed in frustration, sitting up and flicking his cigarette butt away. “What the fuck do you want from me?”

Jonathan also sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the chair and planting his elbows on his knees. “I want you stop pushing us away. It’s stupid.”

Steve jumped to his feet, his body wired with tension. “No, you know what’s stupid? Getting this deep. Should’ve just fucked Nancy and kept her at arm's-length. Should never have fucked _you,_ that’s for damn sure.”

Jonathan tried to remain calm, breathing through the self-loathing that reared its ugly head inside of him. He knew Steve was just lashing out, that he didn’t mean what he was saying. “Well it’s a little too late for that now, isn’t it? We all got together and now we all love each other and we have to deal with it.”

“Uh, wrong, Byers. We don’t have to deal with it. We can just bury our fucking heads in the sand and wait for this whole shitstorm to blow over.”

“ _Why?_ What’s the point of that?”

“What’s the point of _this_?” Steve yelled, gesturing expansively. “Seriously tell me what the fucking point is. We’re good together, so what? It’s not like we could all live together or make this last. Or if we do, then what? We get a big house even though you hate money and nice things, one of us knocks Nancy up, then we get a fucking kid that we get to ignore and leave alone because we’re all too busy chasing our own tails to deal with it?”

“Why is that the only outcome?” Jonathan asked, trying to control his anger. 

“Well, guess what, it’s actually not.” Steve’s smirk was terrible. “Because you and Nance are going to college to actually do things with your lives and never come back to Hawkins. It won’t even matter in a few years; actually, we’ll all probably forget it ever happened.”

“Stop!” Jonathan jumped to his feet. “How could we possibly forget? What is wrong with you?”

Steve laughed harshly. “What’s wrong with me? You’re the one that’s living a fantasy life, thinking this could last. Maybe you and Nancy could get your happily-ever-after, or, hell, maybe it could even be me and Nance, and you’d fade into the background as usual.”

Hurt spiked through Jonathan so suddenly he flinched. “You’re the one that pulled me from the background, remember?”

“That’s right I did.” Steve shoved him, and Jonathan was so close to the edge of the chair that he fell right back to sitting on it, glaring up at Steve, who was still wearing those damn sunglasses. “I pulled you forward, proved how much you love it up the ass and had you help me give Nance some amazing sex that she never would have found otherwise in this godforsaken town, and now it’s over. Because I’m not a queer like you and this weird little social experiment is _done._ ” He turned and started walking away, throwing a “Now get the fuck off my property,” over his shoulder. 

Jonathan watched him pull open the sliding back door and disappear inside, then buried his face in his shaking hands, desperately trying not to cry like the fag his dad had always called him. 

_Oh my god what does it matter? He was right, wasn’t he?_ Tears burned his eyes and he pressed the heels of his hands into them, struggling to keep his breathing even. He knew that Steve was lashing out, trying to push him away, get rid of them to make their separation easier. But… it still killed him to hear all the negative and dark doubts he’d had about their relationship thrown in his face. What if Jonathan was wrong about Steve? What if this was actually how he felt about everything?

Jonathan shook his head, pushing those thoughts away. No, the boy who had been yelling at him was not the same one who came back to Jonathan’s house and helped them trap a monster, who bought him a new camera and encouraged his friendship with Nancy, who was always pressing kisses to his cheek and touching him every chance he got. That was not the boy who loved Jonathan. And Jonathan knew, he _knew_ with a kind of bone-deep certainty he never had about anything, that Steve loved him. 

He stood up, shaking out his hands, and headed to the house. That Steve that had yelled at him? That had been the little boy was left on his own all the time, the one whose father never had a kind thing to say to him and whose mother was always too busy with his dad to pay him much mind. That Steve was the one that knew how to hurt people, and knew exactly what to say to drive them away, and knew that making Jonathan and Nancy leave by yelling at them was the only way they might actually stay away from him. 

Jonathan pulled the sliding door open and stepped inside, glancing around. He headed across the kitchen to the stairs, going up to Steve’s room. He tread softly on the carpet, focusing on staying calm. Steve’s door was closed over, and Jonathan gently pushed it open to find the other boy sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees and one hand braced against his forehead. His sunglasses had been thrown across the room. 

Steve looked up as Jonathan walked in, his eyes shining. He blinked, looking away. “You’re one stubborn piece of work, you know that Byers?”

Jonathan took a deep breath and crossed the room, sitting down next to him on the bed. “Steve. I love you.” Steve opened his mouth to say something, but Jonathan spoke right over him. “Nancy loves you. And I think- I _know_ you love us, too. So… can we cut the bullshit? Maybe this thing won’t end up with us all together, but we should try, shouldn’t we?”

“But what’s the point?” Steve sighed, looking like he’d survived being run over by a truck. “You and Nancy will be gone next year and who knows when you’ll be back. And I don’t even know what the hell I’m going to do.”

“I’m… I’m not going to college next year,” Jonathan told him, only realizing it was true once it left his mouth. Steve looked over at him, shocked. “I just can’t afford it. And I can’t leave my mom and Will alone. I’m going to stay in town, work and save money, then maybe when Will goes to college I’ll be able to leave, too. But… not next year. It’s too soon.”

“Jonathan Byers if any part of your reasoning for staying here is because of me I will punch you in the throat.”

He rolled his eyes. “Steve Harrington literally stop being a dick for just one minute.” They shared a grin, bumping shoulders. “It honestly has nothing to do with you. I mean, if you wind up staying, that’s a nice bonus. But I’m doing this because I feel it’s the right thing.”

Steve nodded, blowing out a slow breath. “Well. Alright then. What about Nancy?”

“Well she’s definitely going to college.”

“As she should.”

“So?”

“So… Do you think she’d want to stay with us? Even while she’s gone?”

The note of insecurity in Steve’s voice broke Jonathan’s heart. He reached over and gently took Steve’s hand, running his thumb across his knuckles. “Why don’t we ask her?”

“Do you think we should?”

Jonathan nodded. “Yeah. I mean, we’re better when we’re together, right?”

A soft grin stole over Steve’s face as he stared at their clasped hands. “Yeah. Yeah we are. Hey… I’m really sorry about being such an asshole earlier. I shouldn’t have said all that stuff; I didn’t mean any of it.”

Jonathan nodded. “I know.” 

He looked up, searching Jonathan’s face with subtle desperation. “I love you.”

Jonathan smiled. “I know.”


	5. Nancy (rated G)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _All we do is mess around_  
>  _But I know that it's love we found_  
>  _And I know that it's here to stay_  
>  _It's more than just a word we say._  
>  -Big Blue Wave by Hey Ocean!

Nancy sat up as a knock sounded on her door, setting her book aside. Not that she had been reading anyway. It had been almost a week since that night by the lake, when Steve had stormed off, and she constantly found herself distracted by her maudlin thoughts. 

A smile broke out over her face as Jonathan pushed into the room though, looking like he felt terribly out-of-place. “Hey,” she greeted, climbing off her bed and walking towards him.

He smiled softly and relaxed, closing the door behind him as they hugged tightly. Nancy breathed in deeply, inhaling the intoxicating scent of him as she nuzzled her face against the side of his neck. Jonathan always made her feel calm and safe, a possible side effect from that night he had stayed with her after her accidental expedition to the Upside Down. 

After a long moment, they reluctantly parted, Nancy tucking some hair behind her ear as Jonathan asked, “How are you?”

She tried to smile bravely, but felt it shaking around the corners of her lips regardless. “I’m okay. Have you talked to Steve?”

“Yeah, actually. He should be here soon.”

Everything inside of her lit up. “Really?” She grabbed his hand in excitement; she had been so terrified that she had ruined everything. 

He grinned at her obvious joy and nodded. “Really. We have stuff to talk about, but it’s all good stuff.”

A small shriek escaped Nancy and she threw her arms around Jonathan’s shoulders, squeezing him tightly. “You’re amazing, Jonathan!”

He laughed, arms coming up to wrap around her waist and support her. “I just talked to him, really. It’s not like he took a lot of convincing.” He let her go when she started to wiggle. 

“Jonathan.” Nancy cupped his face, staring into his eyes seriously. “You are amazing and you just saved the most important relationship of my life. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t begin to cover it.” Jonathan smiled a little, looking uncomfortable, so Nancy pulled his face down and kissed him, trying to pour all of her love and appreciation into the gesture.

She felt his hands gently bracket her hips as he kissed her back, tilting his head a little so he could deepen it. They broke apart as she heard her window open, looking over to see Steve crawling through and smiling ruefully. 

“Hey Wheeler,” he greeted, obviously striving for casual but doing a terrible job of it.

“Oh Steve,” she whispered, going over to him and rubbing her hands together nervously. “I’m so sorry; I shouldn’t have said anything that night.”

“What?” Steve looked shocked, glancing up at Jonathan quickly before looking back at her. “No, no. _I’m_ sorry. I shouldn’t have just taken off like that; it was a dick move. Especially because,” he reached forward and gently took her hand, squeezing her fingers lightly. “I love you back.”

Nancy knew she was tearing up, but couldn’t help it. “Really?”

“Oh my god what do you mean really _yes_ of course I do! Who wouldn’t love you, Nance?” He shook his head, looking awestruck. “You’re… you’re the most incredible girl I know.”

She rolled her eyes in an attempt to bring it back to a more casual level, but instead the tears started flowing and all she could do was bury her head in Steve’s chest and cling to him tightly. She really had been so afraid that she had destroyed this by being too eager, too selfish. It was one thing to have some fun, another to tell two different boys that she loved them even as she was planning on leaving them. 

Jonathan had stayed with her, that night on the lake. She had cried then, too, and he had stroked her cheeks and hair and told her not to worry; that he loved her and he knew Steve did and that he would fix everything. It wasn’t that she hadn’t believed him, she just hadn’t thought it was possible. Why would they intentionally stay with her when they knew she was going to leave them in a few months?

Nancy pulled away, sniffing and wiping at her eyes. “Sorry. I just… wasn’t expecting all this.”

Steve cupped the back of her head and tilted her face up, brushing a soft kiss across her forehead. “You’re the last one who should be apologizing.”

She gave him a watery smile and glanced over to see where Jonathan went, only to find him sitting cross-legged on her bed, looking quietly pleased. She walked over and joined him, looping her arm across his chest and pushing him back onto the bed, snuggling up to him happily. Nancy felt Steve join them, spooning her from behind and wrapping an arm around the small of her back and over Jonathan’s stomach, pressing them all together closely. 

Nancy closed her eyes and listened to them talk, telling her about Jonathan’s plans to defer college until Will also left, Steve’s idea to go full-time at the supermarket and offer to pay his dad rent until he could figure something else out, how they wanted them all to stay together, even with Nancy going off to Harvard. They pointed out that they had made the drive once already and were willing to do it again and that Nancy would be home for all major holidays otherwise her mom would freak. 

(“I might not even get in,” she pointed out, quietly thrilled when both of them immediately negated the possibility.)

Their plans made her feel a little lonely- she knew she would miss them terribly- but this was something she had to do. And they were offering to wait for her which pulled at her heartstrings in the best ways. Nancy wanted to tell them that they didn’t have to wait for her… but she just couldn’t. They were willing and she was wanting.

“I’ll miss you guys,” she told them quietly, because she needed them to know. 

“We’ll miss you, too,” Jonathan replied, voice heavy. 

Steve pressed a kiss to the back of her shoulder. “We’re gonna call you every day and annoy the hell out of you. We’ll also visit you all the time. You won’t have any time to miss us.”

Nancy grinned, pressing her face into Jonathan’s chest and feeling unbearably happy. “How’d I get so lucky to land such great guys?”

“No idea,” Steve sighed gustily.

“ _We’re_ the lucky ones,” Jonathan pointed out, rubbing a hand up the arm she had wrapped around his body.

They only had a few weeks of summer left, a few weeks of freedom. Nancy wasn’t sure if she’d be leaving them after Christmas or after the school year, but she was determined to make the most of it, to get as much out of this relationship as she could before she had to go without it. Even though she was vaguely worried about Jonathan not going to college right away, he seemed happy with the decision and Nancy was strangely relieved that the two of them would still be together while she was off pursuing higher education. This felt much better than her and Jonathan leaving Steve behind, or asking him to join either of them in their respective cities. 

Nancy had no idea what they would do after she graduated college, if they’d still even be together then, but she was resolved to try and not obsess about it until the time was much closer. 

“I love you both so much.”

“Me, too.”

“Yeah, same.”

**Author's Note:**

>  _Ohh it feels just like summer time;_  
>  _We're all fading away..._  
>  -Feels Like Summer by Panama Wedding


End file.
